Chapter 182 The Fire of War 1
In the second round of Group B, Croatia will face the favorite German team to win the European Cup. Although people are unanimously optimistic that Germany will win the final victory before the game, the Croatians who have created countless miracles obviously do not intend to wait for death.
Coach Bilic hopes that the team can get spiritual encouragement from Wembley's victory over England, and he said that the team is ready to fight against Germany.
He expects his players to play well in the game against Germany: "That's one of the most important games for us, because we have proved that a football team from a small country like Croatia can also defeat the national team of a big country like England, although every player in their team They are all excellent. The victory over England has brought a great improvement in the self-confidence of our team, and now it is the same for Germany. I am now full of confidence that my players will show the best form in the game.
And this confidence also made Bilic eager to score all three points against the popular German team. If it can win as expected, Croatia will successfully enter the quarterfinals.
"Our whole team is now full of confidence. I know we are a strong team and we have the strength to defeat any opponent."
To defeat Germany, Bilić's biggest rely is Modric, the core of the Croatian midfielder known as "Little Cruyff".
Bilich said that he is looking forward to Modric. This player is rising and he will be the best player in this European Cup: "This is not that I am putting pressure on him, but I really think he can reach such a height."
Modric's midfield partner Kranica also said that he is a Croatian football superstar: "modric is the master of our team."
Modric, who is only 22 years old, is a very comprehensive player. Fiorentina won the triple crown this season. He is also a great achievement. Although he failed to participate in the final due to injury, no one can ignore the role of Modric.
Modric is good at both his left and right feet, with an excellent sense of passing and quick thinking, which makes his passing extremely accurate. He can play the role of organizer behind the striker or as the left-back.
In the first group match with Austria, he scored the penalty created by his companions soon after the opening of the game, but although his performance was not as good as people thought in the subsequent games, the head coach of the Croatian team, Bilic, firmly believed that Modric would break out sooner or later: "He is improving every day, day by day by day Good day, it's the same in this European Championship, and it's the same throughout his career.
The final result of this game surprised everyone. The popular German team, which won the championship, unexpectedly lost to Croatia. Srner and Orci's two goals made the German team return. It was Degan's teammate Modric in Florence who sent an assist for Oric.
In addition, the German team's Schweinsteger was also sent off with a red card for a retaliatory foul in stoppage time, which cast a shadow on the German team's prospects for qualifying.
In this game, the starting lineup of both sides has not changed much. Croatia only replaced Petrich in the last game with Rakitic. Germany's starting lineup is exactly the same as in the last game against Poland.
There is another very interesting detail of this game. A total of 12 players among the starters of the two teams are playing in the highest league in Germany, so the competition between the two teams can be regarded as an internal competition in the Bundesliga.
But for the Germans who trained Croatian players, the final result must be what they don't want to see. Hamburg striker Orci's goal in the second half laid the foundation for Croatia's victory, which also made Croatia basically determine a qualifying place, while the German team needs to be in the end. A round of death with the Austrian team.
Croatia defeated Germany with Bundesliga players, and the reason why this team has so many Bundesliga players is not only because its geographical location and cultural level is similar to Germany, but more importantly, at the level of Croatia, leagues like the Bundesliga are more suitable for the development of young players. The competition is not as fierce as the Premier League or La Liga. They can have stable opportunities to play and grow well in the team. Rakitic is a good example. This season, the 88-year-old young player has even had more assists than Ribery, the core of Bayern Munich.
Germany lost 1:2 to Croatia. Such a result was unexpected. Lev failed to complete his dream of qualifying early. After the game, he also expressed his disappointment in an interview with the media.
"Overall, we played quite weakly, and our control of the game was obviously worse than our opponents, and the players could not organize the game well through the midfield pass on the court. We played too many high balls in the game, and the players' ballless running position was also very problematic, so they could not play the whole. With the cooperation, the passing accuracy is not enough, and Croatia should do better in these aspects.
As Lev said, Croatia's performance in the whole game was indeed excellent and finally lost the game, which made Lev scratch his head. He said that it would take a day to summarize where the German team lost and how to improve it, and guarantee that the team would complete it before the last game against Austria. Improvement.
"We are all disappointed to lose the second game. Now let's find out the reason. Maybe I can say some of them now, but we must sit down and analyze all the reasons for this result and strive to improve it. After our victory over Poland, losing this game is a big blow to us, but we still have a chance to show a different side against Austria.
Losing the game with Croatia really disappointed Lev. In the last game, the German team broke the strange circle of 12 years of defeating Poland in the European Cup, and in this game, against an opponent who has not lost in 10 years, the German chariot once again rewritten the record.
If Podoski hadn't scored a goal to save face in the second half, according to the development trend of the game at that time, the painful memory of the German international of Klinsmann's generation at the French World Cup ten years ago would have reappeared tragically on the players of Klose's generation.
In the first victory over Poland, the German media was once optimistic about the team's team's team's qualifying, but now, all optimism will dissipate with this defeat. Looking at the trend of this game, some similarities can be found with the game ten years ago, although the score Different, but the ending is exactly the same.
The team led by Vogelz played 352, while Lov's team was 442. Although the formation is different, the tactical characteristics of emphasizing sideline attacks and relying on high fronts to score have been passed on.
In the 1/4 game of 1998, the German team was quite passive in the first half. Hasler was stared to death by Stanich. Heinrich and Tanat, who were on both wings, had few opportunities to pass. Klinsmann and Bierhof could not form an effective shot because they had too few chances to get the ball.
In this game, the Croatian's technical advantages showed their power in the first half of the game. Germany's forward twin towers, Gomes and Klose did not even threaten Croatia's goal in the first half.
The game scene is similar, but the goal process is not the same. In that year, all three goals were scored by a quick counterattack, while today Croatia's two goals are a real battle attack.
As Bilic, who participated in that game as a player in those years, he has now become the coach of the Croatian team. Bilic sympathizes with the technical characteristics of German players.
In the two warm-up games before the European Cup, the German team has exposed the slow turn of the central defender, and the German team ten years ago also had the same technical shortcoming. In order to carry out a devastating blow to the German chariot, Bilic knew that the offensive breakthrough must be selected in the opponent's central defender position.
Orci, who plays for Hamburg in the Bundesliga, is not good at speed. If he wants to make a breakthrough in the central defender position, he must implement the two-wing pass tactics, but the height advantage of Mertsack and Metzelde is quite obvious, which requires the choice of the player's cross-in foot method.
Low flat! Be sure to draw a low ball!
The Croats deliberately avoided Ram's left side, while Jansen on the right side was regarded as the key strike direction. Bayern's young player made a series of mistakes in the whole game. Croatia's first goal was due to Jansen's relief mistake.
Ten years ago, the German team was also popular for winning the bid. The European Cup champion team was copied by Vogelz's original team to the French World Cup. Today, Loef's main framework is also based on the third place in the World Cup, and has not been significantly adjusted.
Stableness is important, but it is also an indisputable fact that there is a lack of change.
The German, who pursued stability and lacked change, lost. In addition to the defeat, he lost his wife and lost his army. Schweinsteg, who came on as a substitute, received the first red card in this European Cup. After the game, the German media unanimously targeted the piggy's stupid foul.
In the make-off period of the game, Schweinsteg made a retaliatory foul after being tackled by the opposing player, and the referee directly showed a red card, which also made Schweinsteg unable to play in the next life-and-death battle between Germany and Austria.
Germany has completed two group matches, and these two games do not have many good memories for Schweinsteg.
He was originally the main force of the national team, because Löw changed his formation in the first game against Poland, allowing Fritz, who had a stronger breakthrough ability, to start. In addition, because Podowski played well in the right-back position before, Schweinsteg could only be sent down to the bench.
The final result proved that Llev's change was wise. Fritz's several breakthroughs tore apart the Polish defense, and Podolsky became the biggest contributor to winning the game twice.
Before the game with Croatia, some media predicted that because Croatia's strength is one level higher than that of Poland, Lov is likely to adjust Schweinstein, who has a better overall view and control, back to the starting lineup. However, the head coach of the German team obviously hopes that Fritz can continue to play. In the state of the game, the piglet was put on the bench again.
However, the German team underestimated Croatia's strength. Although the right side, composed of Podolski and Jansen, could compete with the opponent on the offensive, it seemed unable to do it in defense. Szner's first goal was caused by Jans relief error.
Fritz, who served as the starter, is facing Robert of Croatia. During the defense of Kovac and Joel Luka, they also lost a sharp breakthrough in the last game. Although Ram performed well in the first half and did not make the left side of the German team a stage for Rakitic to show his talent, the German team's second goal was precisely because Rakitic got a foot after shaking Ram on the right. Mode Richie responded in the middle and hit the ball across, allowing Orci to shoot in front of the goal.
It was precisely because of the unfavorable control of the midfield that Löw replaced Gomez with Schweinstein in the second half. Piggy returned to his most familiar wing-back position, while Podolsky and Klose partnered with double forwards. Of course, Lev hoped that Schweinsteg could control the game through his ability and big The situation is to find the rhythm on the field for the German team, but the fact is that after Schweinsteger came on the field, the passive situation of the German team has indeed improved.
However, in stoppage time, a calm behavior paid the price for a good pig. The opposing player shoveled Schweinsteg in the German team at half-time. The latter stood up and overthrew the Croatian player to the ground, and the referee decisively showed a red card.
After the game, the German media even played the title of "Pig's Stupid Red Card" for Schweinsteg's red card: "The already bad defense is depressing enough. Schweinsteig's red card in overtime is simply stupid."
Schweinsteger, who had been quite unhappy at Bayern this season, hopes to help him regain his form through this European Cup. However, Löw's change of formation and this red card have turned the good wishes before the game into a luxury, even if the German team can finally qualify or go further, for this The impulsive piglet, I'm afraid he should be careful when using it.
Schwein Steger paid the price for his stupid red card, but some people should be mainly responsible for Germany's defeat, such as Mario, who partnered with Klose as the starting line. Gomez.
For those civilian players who want to fly to become a phoenix, if they can have a good performance in Switzerland and Austria, the stage of the European Cup is heaven. On the contrary, if they perform badly, the trip to the European Cup will be a journey to hell, German striker Mario. Gomez is a typical representative of wandering in hell. After two nightmare-like European Cup performances, Gomez has obviously lost all the trust of coach Loeb.
This season, which has just ended, is extremely wonderful for Gomez. Although Stuttgart is only sixth in the Bundesliga, Gomez, nicknamed "Super Mario", won the Silver Boots Award with 19 goals. Such a brave state made Gomez in the European Cup At the beginning, he was expected by the German media, and Löw personally gave the glorious German team's No. 9 robe to Gomez, which shows the heavy responsibility of the "Super Mario". However, after two rounds of the group stage of the European Cup, the Bundesliga Silver Boots Award not only did not win, but even wasted many good opportunities. Gomez The bad performance undoubtedly disappointed everyone.
Gomez wasted two opportunities in Germany's victory over Poland, but this did not affect Llev's trust in the silver boots in the Bundesliga. German leader Bierhoff was even more sure that Gomez could score against Croatia, so Podolfski, who scored twice in the first round, could only play the full-back. Gomez is still the center of India.
After Croatia took the lead, Gomez got an excellent opportunity to equalize. Jansen's bottom pass fell on Gomez's head, but the header of the Bundesliga air overlord missed the goal frame. Lov may not have thought that this was Gomez's first shot in the field, but it was also "Super Mario" The only shot.
In the 1/8 final of the World Cup between Germany and Sweden two years ago, Gomez witnessed Podolski's great redness in the stands, while in the European Cups of Switzerland and Austria, Gomez felt the gap between himself and Prince Porty on the court, if Podolski hadn't scored for Germany in the second half. The goal of the World Cup will even be torn off the last fig leaf.
According to the latest news, Bayern Munich and Gomez have signed a working contract, and "Super Mario" will replace Popolski, who has scored three goals in two consecutive games.
After the first game against Poland, Gomez was quite careless about wasting two opportunities. He just said, "It's actually only a little bit from the goal. In the first game, I just want people to see that I am full and aggressive enough. The important thing is that the team wins."
Germany's 2-0 victory does hide a lot of problems. Gomez's weak attack is the most critical part of it. After all, for a player who has no competition experience, playing the center of the German national team in the European Cup is not enough for anyone to bear such a huge pressure.
It is undeniable that Gomez did perform well in the 2007/2008 season, but the valuation of a player depends not only on his performance in the league, not to mention the Bundesliga-level league to highlight the value of the scorers. Don't forget to be like Mintar, Yetas and Alex. Forwards such as Alves, Herrich, Dundee and Bogdanovic have also been extremely popular in the Bundesliga, but no player can withstand the baptism of time, and Gomez is obviously a so-called divine peak.
Gomez's trip to the European Cup is doomed to be frustrated. For Oric, the main striker of the Croatian team, this European Cup is destined to leave good memories.
In the past season, Orci scored 14 Bundesliga goals, second only to the glorious Tony, Gomez and Kurani, and his performance was very eye-catching.
In addition, Orci is also a "German son-in-law". Like his national teammate Krašnik, he has a German wife. However, it was Orci who became the "nightmare" of the German team in the European Cup.
Orci is not dazzling in the Croatian team. He is not as good as captain Kovac with many years of experience in the national team, and he is not as much-anticipated as the rising star Modric.
But this Hamburg striker was the biggest contributor to Croatia's two consecutive victories. In the first match with host Austria, Oric created a penalty for the team in less than three minutes, and Modric made it overnight, finally helping Croatia win 1-0.
In the game with the German team, Orci created scoring opportunities for his teammates many times, and finally scored a goal himself to lock the victory for the team. The "German son-in-law" also smashed Germany's dream of qualifying early and pushed his opponent to the edge of the cliff.
It is worth mentioning that Orci has always been able to play well in Croatia's strong enemy. In the last game of the European Cup qualifiers and England's Wembley match, Orci's winning goal helped Croatia win 3:2 and kept England out of the European Cup.
Now in the European Cup, Orci has continued his true character as a "strong team killer" and cut off the German team, showing outstanding talent. It seems that Olić will also become an important pawn for Croatia in this European Cup and will play a more critical role in future competitions.
Croatian defeated Germany 2:1, which may be the first surprise since the start of the European Cup. However, I'm afraid that the Croatian team, which blocked England from the door of the final, will not surprise people any more, because they have done it.
As the core of Croatia's new generation, Modric also won the best in the first game with Austria and won the best in the second consecutive game. After the game, he also came to the post-match press conference with coach Bilic. In the face of the double honor of winning Germany and the second consecutive best, Modric was extremely calm.
"This is just an ordinary game. We played real football, which is the happiest." Modric was so mature that he hardly talked about his personal performance.
Compared with the first game, Modric is relatively behind in this game, with captain Nico. Kovacs formed a double waist, just like when he was in Florence. Although he was small, he also shared a lot of defensive tasks. Even in the last injury stoppage time of the game, he got a yellow card for shoveling Flins in the front court. However, from organizing the attack to sharing defense, Modric can It is said that the task has been completed incisively and vividly.
Coach Bic also praised the love general at the press conference. When the reporter asked which was more perfect between the Croatian team and the world's third Croatian team that year, Blick did not hide the importance of Modric to this team: "The Croatian team back then had Boban, Suk The core, but now we are playing more as a whole, and Modric is the core of this whole team. At that time, most of Croatia were strong and powerful players. Now we can see that we focus more on technology. Except for Modric, Rakitic, Srner and Kranitsa are all of this style, which also allows our team to have more tactical changes.
Modric also agrees with the coach: "Today's victory is an overall victory. Everyone played perfectly, which allows us to control the situation on the field. Even if the opening of the second half is a little passive, we quickly recovered our own rhythm. Let's stay Give us a lot of time, and the opportunities are naturally very good. We will try our best to prepare for the next competition.
When asked about his new position in the national team, Modric said: "The back position is now, but it is not strange to me at all. After the transfer to Fiorentina this season, when my head coach Mr. Prandelli and captain Rod told me, 'Luca, this is your new position', I really I'm crazy for them, because I've never played that position, and I don't believe that I can show my characteristics in the back position, but the final result proves that they are right. I like my current position very much, and I also have the ability to make greater contributions to the team in this position!"
There are many popular people!
Modric is now. With his excellent performance in Florence last season and his amazing performance in the last two European Cups, Modric has attracted the attention of many giants, including Wenger, who is best at training young players, and Real Madrid's attention. In addition, it is rumored that Juventus also hopes to get Modric to complete the great cause of revival.
For many transfer rumors, Modric seemed very indifferent: "I am very grateful for the appreciation of me, but now I am a player of Florence. I only think about playing for Fiorentina and the national team, and after the end of last season, my captain Rod once told me that he would be in the next season. Give me a Champions League final. I'm looking forward to it now, yes! That's right! I will stay in Florence next season. I still have a four-year contract with Purple Lily, and I also respect this contract very much!"
Modric, a junior, is very popular. As Germany's most famous star, Barak seems a little frustrated. Barak is naturally responsible for this defeat. His downturn in this game is also disappointing, which has also had a fatal impact on the whole team, lacking this midfield "engine", German The operation of the Man chariot also began to failed, and eventually it was trampled by the "Eastern European iron riders".
In the first round of the European Cup and Poland, Barak's performance was also very eye-catching, with excellent passing and shooting, becoming one of the team's heroes. However, in the game with Croatia, Barak was no longer beautiful. Most of the time, he disappeared from the field, creating a very limited threat to his opponents.
However, Barak is still the person with the largest running distance in this game. He can be said to have performed very positively, but unfortunately, he has wasted most of his time on unnecessary returns. Due to the frequent mistakes of the team, it is difficult for the German team to organize a decent offensive in the front court, and it is also difficult for Ballack to organize the German team in the past. This has also become a major factor restricting the victory of the German team in this game.
As the team's midfield organizer, Ballack failed to mobilize the whole team well in this game, and also gave his opponents more opportunities.
For many years, Barack has been highly expected to lead German football to a new glory, but since the moment Ballack put on the captain's armband, the questioning of him has not stopped for a moment. Many people think thatba la ke is not qualified to be the leader. The qualification of sleeves.
He does not have the inherent domineering spirit of former German captains Kahn and Mateus, let alone the ability to lead the team.
In 2004, he was blocked from the European Cup group stage and was blocked by Italy in the World Cup finals. Ballack always fails in the face of honor. It depends on whether Ballack can withstand the pressure and prove his ability in this European Cup.
Barack is not only given the responsibility of captain of the German team, but also regarded as a popular candidate for the title of the best star in this European Cup.
However, judging from Barak's performance in the game with Croatia, he is still a long way from this honor. Stable state and excellent performance are essential. Barak's top priority is to lead the team back to the team as soon as possible and lead the team to the right track step by step. Obviously, Barack needs There is still a lot to be done.
The Germans lost and broke the first surprise of this European Cup. Perhaps compared with Belgium, Romania, Turkey and Russia, they have more potential to become dark horses.
Compared with the attention received in this game, the other game of this group, the match between Poland and Austria, seemed to be poor. After 90 minutes of boring battle, the two teams shook hands 1:1.
For Austrians, this result is completely acceptable if they don't fight at home. Even if Poland is a European second-rate team, their strength is obviously better than them.
However, it is a pity that it failed to win a victory under the circumstances of occupying the time, location and people.
Austrian football has been dormant for ten years. They last appeared in the international competition was in the 1998 World Cup in France. Since then, they have failed to seize the opportunity to participate in the international competition. In the 2004 European Cup qualifiers, they lost to the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. In 2006, the world The cup qualifiers originally made a good start, with a 2:2 draw with the English team, which was very popular for winning the championship at that time, but they still missed the line-up and were robbed of tickets by Poland. Both qualifiers said goodbye with the third regret in the group.
In this game, the Austrians were originally expected to win. In the first half, Nihak, a young player who played for Werda Bremen in the Bundesliga, helped the team take the lead. In the next game, they still had a chance to expand the score, but unfortunately, Kulick failed to seize the opportunity twice in a row.
God punished the slackers and missed the opportunity to expand the score continuously. The Austrians were punished in the second half. The Polish team seized an opportunity that was not an opportunity and was equalized by Smolarek's long shot.
The Austrians paid the price for their carelessness and saw that the three points in their hands turned into one point, but one thing is still gratifying. Another host, the Swiss team, has taken the lead, and they kept the suspense until the last round.
In Group B, Croatia has won two games and advanced ahead of schedule. Behind them is the German team with one win and one defeat. Poland and Austria are all one draw and one defeat, and still retain the hope of emergence.